#300 - Experimental

[Jumpingfist]

Reading this I would say the text for losses on the giant might be wrong. It appears Nomad in the archery and Calvary phase did do a lot of damage.

The GI losses 4,314 out of 6700. That is significant, however reading the text expects me to see almost no losses for the GI.

The Archers for the Nomad, are not trivial, they are quit effective.

I'm not suggesting the actual out come is wrong. I'm suggestion the combat text for losses might be off.

Most likely the reason the numbers look like a high % is because the ogres died but the GI kingdom brigades still lived.

[The Broken]

That's very true however, we saw:

THE NOMAD SKILLED ARCHERS INFLICTED LITTLE OR NO DAMAGE

THE NOMAD CAVALRY IMPOSED LITTLE OR NO DAMAGE TO THE GIANT RANKS

INFANTRY NOW CHARGED AHEAD. NOMAD TROOPS DEALT MINOR DAMAGE

REMAINING TROOPS OF ALL TYPES HURLED THEMSELVES INTO THE THICK OF BATTLE THE NOMAD KINGDOM INFLICTING LIGHT DAMAGE

So In my world, No damage, No Damage, Minor Damage and Light damage, does not account for 64% losses. 64% in my world, that's significant losses, however the TEXT of the battle does not represent what really happen.

[unclemike]

When I add the official combat routines to the game, it'll have the correct language text and results during each phase of the battle but I may not be able to do that until Alpha test #2 which is a while yet away...

[The Broken]

I'm not picking at all, you just wanted us to point out anomalies if we ran across them

[Acererak]

(NO), good strategy by the GI indeed. I was surprised when I read my turn and chuckled to myself. I had a trail on his group and when it was reported he couldn't be found I figured he had combined with the 1GI not gone into Ambush. I even had extra orders but the thought of an ambush never occurred to me. Nomad cavalry seemed awfully ineffective. 2,100 cavalry in the Plains caused little or no damage. Seems odd no? Same amount of damage in the cavalry phase as the Giant who has zero cavalry. Doesn't make sense to me.

Ah well, well played by the GI.

[Acererak]

I did want to pose a question to the group as to whether a 691 should give a little more information. If you think about it, the agent picks up the trail of the group BEFORE he goes into ambush. It can only be ordered if you know exactly where the group was and the name of it. I did that on turn 2. Here is what the turn told me:

ZORUNDA DILIGENTLY WORKED TO REMAIN HIDDEN AS WE STARTED TO TRAIL THE 3RD GIANT
FROM AREA WZ.
ZORUNDA REPORTS THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO LOCATE THE SPECIFIED GROUP (3RD GIANT).

So for the group, what do you think? Clearly I found the group...and then they disappeared. Should Ambush be nullified by a 691?

---

Since we're all in the open. My group value was 23,580. What was yours Beatific?

[The Broken]

(NO), good strategy by the GI indeed. I was surprised when I read my turn and chuckled to myself. I had a trail on his group and when it was reported he couldn't be found I figured he had combined with the 1GI not gone into Ambush. I even had extra orders but the thought of an ambush never occurred to me. Nomad cavalry seemed awfully ineffective. 2,100 cavalry in the Plains caused little or no damage. Seems odd no? Same amount of damage in the cavalry phase as the Giant who has zero cavalry. Doesn't make sense to me.

Ah well, well played by the GI.

We talked about this in previous posts in this very thread. Your archery and cavalry phase did significant damage to him. The text for the official combat routines are not in place yet. You did 64% damage to him over all, which is pretty good considering the new rules.

[The Broken]

ZORUNDA DILIGENTLY WORKED TO REMAIN HIDDEN AS WE STARTED TO TRAIL THE 3RD GIANT FROM AREA WZ.
ZORUNDA REPORTS THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO LOCATE THE SPECIFIED GROUP (3RD GIANT).

So for the group, what do you think? Clearly I found the group...and then they disappeared. Should Ambush be nullified by a 691?

I like the order as it stands. Assuming one of these map coordinates is 5-6 miles square, that a huge amount of space to hide anything. He worked hard to remain hidden and started the trail. Then he lost them, ran into a patrol or two had to stay hidden, then couldn't find them after. You know what would have found that group, a better trained agent team, say around 7th level.

[Beatific]

I did want to pose a question to the group as to whether a 691 should give a little more information. If you think about it, the agent picks up the trail of the group BEFORE he goes into ambush. It can only be ordered if you know exactly where the group was and the name of it. I did that on turn 2. Here is what the turn told me:

ZORUNDA DILIGENTLY WORKED TO REMAIN HIDDEN AS WE STARTED TO TRAIL THE 3RD GIANT
FROM AREA WZ.
ZORUNDA REPORTS THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO LOCATE THE SPECIFIED GROUP (3RD GIANT).

So for the group, what do you think? Clearly I found the group...and then they disappeared. Should Ambush be nullified by a 691?

---

Since we're all in the open. My group value was 23,580. What was yours Beatific?

14500. I figured with all the bonuses/penalties for ambush that it would bring us close to parity and maybe give me the edge. Your rolls though seem to have made it significantly worse. Although The Broken is exactly right about my losses. The text made them seem insignificant, but they were not. My unit is limping away for sure. No details forthcoming on that, though....at least until well after our war is finished.

[unclemike]

FYI, over the weekend I was able to finish End of 2nd Cycle changes to the game. These changes will be active starting with your turn 4 orders due this Tuesday Dec 2.

To the new game engine, I added:
• 170/171 changes
• Acuity (never surprised) - acts as an automatic entrenchment for some kingdoms that have this special ability (Rangers, Black Dragons, Red Dragons)
• Changed Evade to order # 118 (since 119 is 1st cycle Thermopylae Stand)
• Entrenchment now carries a permanent -5% morale loss (not just during battles)
• Dead/missing figures processed (for order 510 unique name)
• Kingdom setups (+50% combat in certain terrains, flight has +20% vs pc, ...etc.) -- I already sent out new kingdom setups for those that had anything changed.
• Artifact changes (added Oracle of the Old Gods, minor tweaks in combat/encounters)

To the order checker, I added the above plus:
• 299 guard prisoner
• 353 transfer prisoner
• parses prisoners from previous turn's results file
• parses dead/missing from previous turn's results file
• 700-series transfer/combine orders (no gold for combines nor morale loss for late transfer orders)

The above ended up being more work than I thought but everything is up to date now. Onto something else...